Vineyard tending took a few days off in early July due to a long Independence Day weekend and family visits. Covered in June’s Chronicles, the previous month was filled with keeping vines pruned and growing vertically, and remaining abreast of insects and critters determined to ruin my day.
Not unlike two weeks in May when away from the vineyard due to grandparenting duties, we were also away the first three weeks of June visiting family in New England, and tending to out-of-town needs. Leaving my three-year-old tilled and pruned vineyard we came back to overgrown vines with weeds taking over.
May is an exceedingly busy month in the vineyard. You must tend to new growth with vine trellis guiding and pruning, and also prepare for future year vineyard growth with supplemental planting to fill row gaps. Continued weeding is essential, along with beginning a spraying program to control powdery mildew and small critters.
With winter beginning to loosen its grip, I had several items in store for April. All were important in getting everything ready for the growing season but paramount, was adding four new irrigation zones to the vineyard. Also in store, pruning, tightening up trellis wire, and hoeing weeds as they emerged.
2022 proved an excellent growing season for second-year vines on Sunshine Mesa. Riesling was the most vigorous, Pinot Noir did well but in a slower less bodacious manner. With the first freeze in late October, the season was officially over. After the successful second season, my anticipation and excitement were high for what lay in store!
I’m a life-long DIY’er. It comes from a long family heritage beginning with my grandfather, who was a hard-scrabble farmer in NE Texas. And my dad, who as a teenager plowed cotton fields behind a mule and as a father, planted a front yard vegetable garden before it was vogue.
The time had come to dig holes for the grape rootstock. Complete to-date; vineyard site and grape selection, site prep, vine row, and hole layout, and determine how to plant the rootstock. To do; plant, install irrigation, monitor growth, build wildlife fence, and winter prep.
My first-year vineyard experience was by all accounts a success. The level of effort both mental and especially physical was taxing, yet satisfying. My expectations and excitement for the second year were sky-high. I believed I was prepared but as learned on several occasions the previous year—”you don’t know what you don’t know” (Socrates).
One of the greatest English poets of the twentieth century W. H. Auden once remarked, “In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag”. This was my frame of mind as spring gave way to summer. Completion of spring tasks as highlighted in Year 2 Part I, set the stage for a summer of pruning vines to the trellis, an activity I immensely looked forward to.
Our intention when we moved to the North Fork Valley was not to live “off the land” but closely with it. Though my life experiences were city-based, my heartbeat was country. My father’s family were farmers in rural NE Texas. They truly lived off the land. With little money, they provided for themselves and bartered for much of their subsistence.
We knew our move to the North Fork Valley would bring new experiences. The degree and exactly what it might involve is not unlike attempting to hit the bullseye on a dart board. You might hit the target once in several tries. We had been coming to the valley for years but as new residents, there was much to learn.
In late summer 2020, we made an offer on a property in the North Fork Valley, and moved two months later. Yes I know, you might believe our actions were COVID-19 related (get out of Denver, change in scene, different life, etc.) but it wasn’t.
